Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
  • H04L65/70—Media network packetisation
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
  • H04L65/75—Media network packet handling
  • H04L65/765—Media network packet handling intermediate
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/80—Responding to QoS
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/23418—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
  • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
  • H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
  • H04N21/2343—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements
  • H04N21/234345—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
  • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
  • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
  • H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
  • H04N7/141—Systems for two-way working between two video terminals, e.g. videophone
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N7/00—Television systems
  • H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
  • H04N7/15—Conference systems

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of transmission of video streams in a network.
• a possible reaction is to cancel transmission of the video stream (and transmitting only audio) or replacing the video stream with a predetermined video stream, for example an avatar.
• a predetermined video stream for example an avatar.
• the user has no information about the video stream.
• this object is achieved by a method for transmitting a video stream in a network, said method being performed by a video transmission device and comprising:
• a frame of the second video stream includes a frame of said first video stream
• the method comprises determining a portion of a frame of said first video stream which meets a quality criteria, a frame of the second video stream including said portion and a frame of a third video stream.
• embodiments of the invention relates to a video transmission device comprising:
• a frame of the second video stream includes a frame of said first video stream
• a frame of the second video stream includes said portion and a frame of a third video stream.
• the first video stream may be transmitted to the destination communication terminal without modification.
• quality when quality is not sufficient, only a portion of the first video stream is transmitted to the destination communication terminal, in combination with a substitute video stream. Since the selected portion meets quality criteria, the quality degradation may be (at least partially) hidden to the user of the destination communication terminal.
• a substitute video stream is provided to the user, the user's attention can be diverted from the reduced size of portion P with respect to the original video. Consequently, the user may enjoy a fluid a satisfying viewing experience even when quality is degraded.
• the first video stream comprises first image data which contain data of a complete region of a frame and second image data which contain data on the changes of a region of a frame with respect to a previous frame, said quality criteria being met by a region if second image data have been received for said region for a predetermined duration.
• said frame of the second video stream may include said portion at a location specified by metadata of the third video stream.
• said frame of the second video stream may include said portion at a location determined by analysis of the third video stream.
• said frame of the second video stream includes said portion at a predetermined location.
• the portion may be located at an area of least interest.
• the third video stream may include advertisement.
• the third video stream may be determined in function of an identifier of the source communication terminal or of the destination communication terminal. Accordingly, personalization is provided.
• the third video stream may be determined in function of data related to said identifier available from a social network service.
• determining a portion of a frame of said first video stream which meets a quality criteria is repeated for successive frames of said first video stream. Accordingly, the determined portion may vary over time for successive frames.
• Embodiments relates to videoconferencing. Accordingly, the method may comprise:
• a frame of the second video stream includes a frame of said at least one of said first video streams
• the method comprises determining a portion of a frame of said at least one first video stream which meets a quality criteria, a frame of the second video stream including said portion and a frame of a third video stream.
• the second video stream may be a mosaic based on said first video streams.
• the second video stream may be determined by selecting one of the first video streams, for example the one wherein the participant speaks the loudest.
• Embodiments of the invention also relates to a computer program, for example on a computer readable-medium, including instructions for executing a method according to an embodiment of the invention when said program is executed by a computer.
• Figure 1 is a schematic of a system wherein a method for transmitting a video stream according to an embodiment of the invention may be implemented
• Figure 2 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting a video stream according to an embodiment of the invention
• Figures 3, 4 and 5 illustrate various example of the combination of a portion of a video stream with a substitute video stream
• Figure 6 is a schematic of a system wherein a method for transmitting a video stream according to an embodiment of the invention may be implemented, and,
• Figure 7 illustrates an example of the combination of a portion of a video stream with a substitute video stream, in the system of Figure 6.
• processor or “controller” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and non volatile storage.
• DSP digital signal processor
• ASIC application specific integrated circuit
• FPGA field programmable gate array
• ROM read only memory
• RAM random access memory
• non volatile storage Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included.
• Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically understood from the context.
• any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the invention.
• any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic of a system 1 wherein a method for transmitting a video stream according to an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.
• the system 1 comprises a communication terminal 2, a video transmission device 3 and a communication terminal 4, connected by a network 5.
• the system 1 may also comprises a substitute video server 6 and a video quality assessment device 7.
• the system 1 allows transmitting a source video stream V s from the communication terminal 2 (which acts as a source terminal) to the communication terminal 4 (which acts as destination terminal), through the network 5, via the video transmission device 3.
• the transmission of the video stream V s may be initiated in an IP Multimedia Subsystem, using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
• SIP Session Initiation Protocol
• embodiments of the invention are not limited to this example.
• the communication terminal 2 may be a multimedia server storing a plurality of video streams which may be requested by users.
• the communication terminal 2 may also be a user terminal, for example a terminal capable of acquiring video and emitting the acquired video through the network for video communication such as a PC or a Smartphone.
• the communication terminal 4 may be a user terminal capable of receiving a video stream to be displayed, for example a PC, a Smartphone, a Set Top Box...
• the video transmission device 3 is located in the network 5 between the communication terminal 2 and the communication terminal 4.
• the video stream V, N received by the video transmission device 3 may differ from the source video stream V s , for example due to packet loss or delay in the network 5.
• the video stream V, N available in the network 5 may be distorted, that is quality may be reduced.
• the video transmission device 3 determines a quality level Q of the video stream V, N .
• the video transmission device 3 assesses the quality level Q itself.
• the video transmission device 3 determines the quality level Q by consulting a video quality assessment device 7 configured for assessing the quality of the video stream V, N and for providing the quality level Q to the video transmission device 3.
• the quality level Q may be assessed by any suitable video quality assessment method.
• the quality level Q may reflect a sufficient quality if P-Slices have been received for each region of a frame for a predetermined duration, and may reflect an insufficient quality otherwise.
• the video stream V OUT transmitted from the video transmission device 3 to the communication terminal 4 depends on the determined quality level Q: If the quality level Q is above a predetermined quality threshold Q 0 , video stream V OUT comprises the video stream V, N in its entirety (for example the video stream V OUT is equal to the video stream V, N ).
• the video transmission device 3 compose the video stream V OUT by combining a portion of the video stream V, N which meets a quality criteria and a substitute video stream V SUB .
• the substitute video stream V SUB may be a video stored in the video transmission device 3.
• the substitute video stream V SUB is provided to the video transmission device 3 by a substitute video server 6.
• the substitute video stream V SUB may contain an advertisement. It may depend on an ID of the user of communication terminal 2 or communication terminal 4. For example, the substitute video server 6 selects an advertisement based on profile information indicating that the selected advertisement is suitable for the user.
• the substitute video stream V SUB may also contain a video preselected by the user of communication terminal 2 or communication terminal 4, in a similar manner to the application to video of a Personal Ring Back Tone function.
• the substitute video stream V SUB may also contain a video determined based on data related to the user of communication terminal 2 or 4, available from a social network service. For example, if the user of communication terminal 2 has shared a video on a social network service, this video may be included in the substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 2 is a flow chart of a method for transmitting a video stream, performed by the video transmission device 3.
• the video transmission device 3 receives the video stream V, N from the communication terminal 2 (Step SI ), and determines the quality level Q of video stream V, N (Step S2). The determined quality level Q is compared with threshold Q 0 (Step S3).
• the video transmission device 3 uses as output video stream V OUT the video stream V, N (Step S4).
• the video transmission device 3 determines at least a portion P of the video stream V, N which meets a quality criteria (Step S5) and compose the video stream V OUT by combining the portion P with the substitute video stream V SUB (Step S6).
• the video stream V OUT is transmitted to the communication terminal 4 (Step S7).
• the steps SI to S7 are continuously performed while transmitting the video stream. Consequently, the transmission of the whole video stream may be composed of time periods wherein quality of V, N is satisfying (Q ⁇ Q 0 ) and V OUT is equal to V, N and other time periods wherein quality of V, N is not satisfying (Q ⁇ Q 0 ) and V OUT is the result of the combination of a portion of V, N with the substitute video stream V SUB .
• the quality criteria used for determining a portion P of the video stream V, N may be as follows : A region of a frame is selected as a portion P which meets the quality criteria if at one time T, P-Slices about this region have been received regularly since a number of milliseconds configurable and inferior to the time interval between two complete images (l-SLICE). In case P-Slices have been received for several regions, the largest region may be selected. Of course, other quality criteria may be used.
• Figure 3 illustrates a first example of composing the video stream V OUT by combining a portion of video stream V, N with the substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 3 shows a frame Fl of video stream V, N where two regions Rl and R2 meet the quality criteria. The largest one (Rl in this example) is selected as portion P to be included in video stream V OUT .
• Figure 3 shows a frame F2 of substitute video stream V SUB which contains an area A of least interest. Area A may be specified for example by metadata included in substitute video stream V SUB . In another example, area A may be determined by the video transmission device 3 by analyzing the substitute video stream V SUB , for example based on movement vectors of the video stream V, N .
• Figure 3 shows a frame F3 of video stream V OUT composed by superposing the portion P of frame Fl on frame F2, at the location of area A. In case area A and portion P do not have the same size, this may involve increasing or reducing the size of portion P.
• the portion P may be determined individually for each frame.
• the portion P of video stream V, N included in video stream V OUT may vary over time. For example, if P-Slices cease to be received for region Rl but not for region R2, region R2 may be selected instead of region Rl as portion P and included in video stream V OUT .
• Figure 4 illustrates a second example of composing the video stream V OUT by combining a portion of video stream V, N with the substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 4 shows a frame F4 of video stream V, N with the portion P selected to be included in video stream V OUT .
• Figure 4 shows a frame F5 of substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 4 shows a frame F6 of video stream V OUT composed by adding the portion P of frame F4 and frame F5 on a background, for example a black background.
• portion P and frame F5 overlap partially in frame F6, but they may be adjacent without overlapping.
• the size of frame F5 may be reduced to fit in frame F6 while leaving sufficient space for portion P.
• Figure 5 illustrates a third example of composing the video stream V OUT by combining a portion of video stream V, N with the substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 5 shows a frame F7 of video stream V, N with the portion P selected to be included in video stream V OUT . In this case, portion P covers most of the frame F7 with the exception of non-selected portion P'.
• Figure 5 shows a frame F8 of substitute video stream V SUB .
• Figure 5 shows a frame F9 of video stream V OUT composed by replacing the non-selected portion P' of frame F7 by frame F8.
• the size of frame F8 may be increased or reduced to fit over the non-selected portion P'.
• FIG. 1 The system 1 of figure 1 has been described with reference to a communication between two communication terminals. However, embodiments of the invention also apply to a communication between a plurality (i.e. more than 2) of communication terminals, as illustrated in Figure 6. In figure 6, the same references as in figure 1 designate the same or similar components.
• the system 1 of Figure 6 comprises a plurality of communication terminals 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, connected through a network 5 via a video transmission device 3.
• Each communication terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d sends a respective source video stream V s a, V s b, V s c, V s d to the video transmission device 3.
• the videos streams V, N a, V, N b, V, N c, V, N d received by the video transmission device 3 may differ from the source video stream V s a, V s b, V s c, V s d, in other words quality may be degraded.
• the video transmission device 3 acts as a video conference server and transmits a video stream V OUT M to each communication terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
• the video stream V OUT M is determined by selecting one of the videos streams V, N a, V, N b, V, N c, V, N d, for example based on which participant speaks the loudest, and applying the method of Figure 2 to the selected video stream.
• the video transmission device 3 transmit the same video stream V OUT M to each communication terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
• different video streams may be transmitted to each communication terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d.
• the video stream V OUT M is determined by applying the method of Figure 2 to at least one of the videos streams V, N a, V, N b, V, N c, V, N d, and then by composing a mosaic of the resulting video streams.
• the method of Figure 2 is applied in parallel to each one of the videos streams V, N a, V, N b, V, N c, V, N d.
• the quality level of video streams V, N a, V, N c and V, N d was judged sufficient, whereas the quality level of video stream V, N b was judged insufficient.
• the mosaic of video stream V OUT M includes entire frames of each of video streams V, N a, V, N c and V, N d, and a portion of a frame of video stream V, N b combined with a frame of a substitute video stream. This combination may be performed for example as described above with reference to one of Figures 3 to 5.
• Embodiments of the method can be performed by means of dedicated hardware and/of software or any combination of both.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (6)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (10)

• 2012
  • 2012-11-20 EP EP12306443.8A patent/EP2733903B1/en not_active Not-in-force
• 2013
  • 2013-11-18 JP JP2015542282A patent/JP6076494B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2013-11-18 WO PCT/EP2013/074023 patent/WO2014079793A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2013-11-18 KR KR1020157016382A patent/KR101726586B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2013-11-18 US US14/442,834 patent/US9380098B2/en active Active
  • 2013-11-18 CN CN201380060322.9A patent/CN104813633B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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